Chapter One: People and Places
and weapons have a +2 crystalline bonus to attack and damage rolls. Thus, a crystal ladder costs 10 gp (5 cp × 200), a crystalline bucker 3,000 gp (15 gp × 200), and a crystalline light mace would cost 9,005 gp (5 gp + 9,000 gp). Crystal-laced objects receive a +10 bonus to hardness, although this increase never takes the total hardness over 30. Objects laced with crystal threads have triple their normal number of hit points and cost 10 times the base price (not counting magical qualities, if any). Crystal laced upon armor or shields can make them stronger and more protective, with a minimum price increase from the base price of +500 gp. Laced weapons likewise become more deadly, and go up +3,000 gp in cost. Armor and shields gain a +1 crystalline bonus to Armor Class when laced with crystal, and weapons gain a +1 crystalline bonus to attack and damage rolls. Thus, a laced crystal long shield is 700 gp (the base price of 20 gp × 10 is only 200, so the price increases by the minimum of +500 gp), a laced crystal breastplate costs 2,000 gp (200 gp × 10). A laced crystal longsword costs 3,015 gp (15 gp + 3,000 gp).
Dragon War well over 7,000 years ago. It is possible that a wholly new human culture, one that never fell into the grip of the dramojh, could exist there with its own cities, customs, and magic. Explorers might seek to learn about the people and creatures of the Unknown West, and open up trade routes with friendly folk. They also might seek the wisdom and lore of the long-lost dragons. And if the western edge of the realm isn’t enough, eager explorers could travel to the continent to the southwest, across the Sonish Sea. This place holds flora and fauna unlike anything anyone has ever seen before, and is inhabited (it’s said) by creatures such as the harrids (see Chapter Four).
Adventure Ideas The Lands of the Diamond Throne are waiting for your player characters to discover them! Here are a few adventure ideas to get you started.
Into the Ruins (Levels 1–3) The Dark Depths After their masters, the dramojh, were eradicated, the slassans fled deep underground and discovered a whole separate world of caverns and tunnels. Moreover, they found this underground land, known to many as the Dark Depths, already inhabited by all manner of subterranean creatures. Trolls, shadow trolls, goblins, and even a race of degenerate humans dwelled underground in strange darkness-shrouded cities. The caves were also filled with creatures like dire bats, lurkers above, tunnel worms, cave fishers, cave morays, purple worms, ochre jellies, and worse. Since their arrival, the slassans have quickly established themselves as the dark masters of the underground world. They build bizarre cities using slaves (like their masters once did) drawn down from the surface. The intelligent creatures in the Dark Depths speak Undercommon. Despite most of them being terribly self-interested, they occasionally conduct trade and sometimes intermingle. No one, not even the inhabitants of the Dark Depths, has ever explored the farthest reaches of the caves and tunnels. Many speak of vast underground seas and gigantic caverns large enough for whole armies to clash in battle. Explorers from the surface are certain to encounter many wonders here, but just as many—if not more—dangers.
The Unknown West No one knows exactly what lies to the far west of the Lands of the Diamond Throne. It is said to be populated with all manner of weird and heretofore undiscovered creatures. Not the least of these strange beasts are dragons, particularly metallic dragons, thought to have fled west during the
A loresong faen akashic named Guin Eyelight is eager to learn the magical combination for a lock to an ancient vault. He wishes to travel to an akashic node in a ruined Vnaxian city in the Southern Wastes where the vault builders once lived. There he can delve into the akashic memory and find the combination. He needs help getting there, though—the ruins are filled with rhodin—so he hires the PCs to escort him and protect him from harm. Within the ruins, Guin accidentally releases a number of 1st-level undead warriors that the PCs must help destroy. In so doing, however, the akashic finds an entrance to a wellpreserved underground portion of the city. Hoping to find an ancient library that could tell him the magical combination he seeks, Guin insists on exploring with the party’s help. They must overcome traps and more old guardians to succeed and return to civilization without succumbing to the attacks of rhodin raiders.
Love’s Light Lost (Levels 4–6) Peniah Loren, a human runethane, is horrified when she discovers that her husband Yorrin, also a runethane, wants to become a mojh. She seeks the PCs’ help, lying to them and telling them that mojh have kidnapped her husband and intend to force him to become one of them. She tells them that they should slay Yorrin if they are too late, for he would rather be dead than a mojh. The PCs trek across harsh wilderness to get to a secret mojh community, where they find Yorrin. When they finally reach him, they learn that he goes to the transformation of his own free will. Now the group must decide for themselves who is lying and who is telling the truth—and what to do next.
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